Alternate Reality: Attraction
by Celeste5502
Summary: In order to access a night club where the owner is a ruthless kidnapper, one hero makes use of a ring which transforms him into practically a god, giving him the attractiveness he needs to enter-perhaps a little too much of it...
1. Prologue: The Contract

Prologue: The Contract

It may have been another moonlit night in Domino, but at the nightclub The King's Haven_,_ things were anything but quiet. Outside of the place, as one stood in the practically mile-long line underneath the flashing gold and blue neon sign which bore the club's name, the faint sound of rock music could be heard even with the glass doors underneath the silver awning closed and blocked by the large, beefy bodyguard. Inside of the place, only the most attractive teenagers, young adults, and even a few celebrities were dancing underneath soft white lights to the band's rocking music or sitting at the booths scattered around the place, chatting and drinking their sparkling bottled water.

A man stepped out of a back office of the shop. Just by the way he walked and his rather expensive grey suit with black buttons, a white shirt and black tie, one could tell that he was the owner of the place. He ran a hand through his short, spiky black hair as he gazed around the room with his blue, rather cold eyes. Eventually they fell upon one girl in particular with chestnut hair pulled into a messy bun, wearing a pink baby doll dress with strappy white heels and a pink necklace who watched the band with dreamy eyes. She appeared to be strangely alone at the place, indicating that perhaps she didn't really have anyone to hang with around here. He stroked his black beard as he watched the guys around her steal quick glances at her beauty. _Hmm…I believe that she would do quite nicely…_he thought to himself.

He walked up to the girl and gently tapped her on the shoulder. "Excuse me, miss," he said.

She looked up and gazed at him with lovely hazel eyes that almost sparkled in the light. A small smile crept up onto his face. _Yes, she will most definitely do, _he thought to himself. "I was just wondering if perhaps you were looking for some place of employment."

"Oh, yes, as a matter of fact I was," the girl replied, her eyes lighting up with delight. "I've just come here from America to attend college in an exchange student program. I've been looking for somewhere I could work to earn some yen and practice my Japanese, but thus far my search has been rather fruitless."

"Well, my dear, you are in luck," the owner replied. "I've recently been looking for another young woman as pretty as you to work in my night club full-time. Would you by chance be interested?"

The girl turned pink at the compliment. "I…I'd love to," she grinned.

"Wonderful," he said. "Would you come on back to my office, please?"

The girl practically floated on air as both she and the owner walked to the back of the club and entered a small office. Posters of bands that had performed at the place were plastered all over the walls and a small desk with two chairs at the front and back and a computer on top was sitting directly in the center. The man sat down behind the desk and motioned for the girl to take the seat in front.

She sat down with her foot tapping impatiently as the owner reached into his desk and pulled out a sheet of paper with the word _Contract_ written on top in flowing, elegant letters and a black pen. 

He pointed at the bottom of the sheet with the pen and said, "All you have to do is sign your name here, and you'll pretty much have the job."

In her excitement of getting a job at last, the girl quickly took his pen and signed her name without even glancing at the terms of the contract. She slammed the pen down onto the desk and cried, "Done!"

The owner took the paper and gazed down at her signature. "Hmm…Charlotte, eh? Quite a pretty name."

"Thank you," she giggled. "So when do I start?"

The owner set the contract down on his desk. A strange smile crept up onto his face. "Now."

Suddenly, a bright white light started to emit from the contract. The girl felt a sort of wrenching sensation in her throat and clutched at it as a mysterious pink orb flew out of it and right into the contract.

She tried to scream out in horror-but absolutely no sound came out. Stunned, she tried to say "What the-", but all she could do was move her lips.

"You can't speak anymore, Charlotte," the owner grinned. "It's part of your contract-your voice has been removed; that's what that orb was. From now on, the only talking you'll be able to do will be through pre-recorded tapes that shall be provided for you as part of your job-none of which will pertain to you being forced to work in some other world against your will, I can assure you."

He snapped his fingers and a round, white portal appeared by the side of his desk. Out of it stepped two large, strong men dressed in black suits and sunglasses who most definitely looked like they couldn't be messed with. "Boys, take Charlotte here over to my night club in the Dimension of the Gods. Get her a uniform, a recording device, a training manual-all that necessary stuff."

Charlotte tried to get up and dash out of the room, but lightning-fast, the two men had one of her arms each in their grasp. She struggled and kicked them in an attempt to get away, but the two barely even felt her attacks.

"One more thing, Charlotte," the owner smiled as his flunkies dragged her towards the portal. "Don't even bother trying to escape. The contract prevents you from so much as getting even one foot out the door of the restaurant without experiencing some very dire consequences which you wouldn't even want to hear about. So, Miss Charlotte, do enjoy your stay in my home world-because as of now, it's yours, too."

With that, Charlotte was yanked into the other world kicking at her captors and silently screaming. Once they were through, the portal slammed shut behind them, leaving the owner to smile nastily at where it had been.


	2. Chapter One: The King's Haven

Chapter One: The King's Haven

The next day, when lunch time at Domino High rolled around, five of that world's eight heroes gathered around a desk in the back corner of the room, with the sixth only sitting as close as he could to be able to hear them, but far enough as to not be associated with them.

Joey leaned back in the chair at the desk and sighed with boredom. "Question for you guys: wouldja rather be trapped inside of dis snorefest buildin' for six whole hours learnin' a buncha useless info we'll never ever need ta know in our entire lives, or trapped by some evil psychopathic villain above some kinda pit a lava or sometin' only inches from droppin' down ta your death? 'Cause right now both a dem seem like equal kinds a torture ta me."

"If you actually worked once in a while, Wheeler, then you wouldn't be as 'tortured' as you are right now," Kaiba muttered to himself, rolling his eyes.

"There's no need to be so depressed, Joey," Yugi said. "It's Friday, so pretty soon you won't have to come here for another two days."

Joey snorted. "Yeah, but how do we know dat we're not gonna hafta go out an save de world from some odder psychopathic nutjob who's gonna put us trough more torture?"

_The torture, I highly doubt, _a voice suddenly resounded through all of their heads. _A bit of battling, definitely, but nothing as extreme as that._

"Spence-" Yugi started.

_Shhh, no need to talk out loud, man,_ Spencer's voice murmured. _I can hear your thoughts-meaning I just heard that, Kaiba, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't call our missions 'acts of insanity'._

Kaiba looked up at the ceiling and glared.

_I HEARD THAT, TOO! _Spencer's voice snapped. _Sheesh…anyway, tonight I'm in need of some assistance. There's a small problem in our world, you see, involving pretty girls that have come from foreign countries to your town._

_What about them? _Yugi thought back.

_They're being kidnapped._

The others let out silent gasps of horror. _By who?_ Téa cried.

_By a quite rich and powerful man from our world named Reginald Johnson. He's the owner of two different night clubs, one in your world and one in ours, both of which are called The King's Haven_. _Only the young, the beautiful, and the extremely famous are allowed to even go near them. Now, in our world, he's widely renowned and praised for employing mute young ladies as his waitresses and allowing__ them to work effectively by simply giving them pre-recorded tapes of common server phrases so that they can 'speak', in a way, with the customers._

_Uh…so what's de problem wit dat? _Joey asked.

Spencer took on a rather angry tone in his voice. _The problem is, as it turns out, those young women aren't really 'mutes' at all-they're the aforementioned girls from your world who have been tricked by him into signing an enchanted contract of his creation with the promise of a job in his night club. Of course, he neglects to mention that he's talking about the night club in _our _world and that by signing the contract, the girls have their voices removed in entirety, agree to be unpaid, permanent young workers for him, and basically never be allowed to set foot anywhere outside of his restaurant again._

Even Kaiba was a little bit horror-struck by this. _That's disgusting! _Téa cried out.

_Hasn't it been brought to anyone's attention here that these girls are just disappearing into thin air? _Tristan asked.

_Don't you remember? These girls are from foreign countries-if their parents don't hear from them for a while, they'd just assume it's because they're too busy with their studies or getting enmeshed within a foreign country to be able to write or e-mail them at the moment._

_So how exactly did you find out about this if all of these girls are mute and completely under his rule? _Bakura asked.

_He made a big mistake,_ Spencer replied, a grin apparent in his voice. _One of the 'foreign' girls he captured turned out to be a young woman visiting here from _our _world who just happened to be telepathic. She told a group of patrons about her plight using her special ability, and they came to us to relate what she'd said._

_So, den why do we still need ta come an take him down if you know exactly what he's doin'? _Joey asked.

_Because unfortunately with rich and famous people like Reginald a mere confession from a 'little person' isn't going to be enough to convict him. We need to get rock solid evidence such as his own confession or truly trustworthy eyewitnesses catching the baka in the act-which, tonight, is what I'm hoping that we can do. It's a simple plan-I convince him to let me and you guys come into the club for a night (shouldn't be a problem, since I'm the king and you guys are heroes), we keep an eye on him and any pretty girls that he chats with, and if he takes one of them into his back office, we sneak in magically, watch him take the girl with our own eyes, and he pretty much kisses his little kidnapping crime spree goodbye. Everybody cool with that?_

_Ey, why not? _Joey replied. _I don't mind spendin' Friday night in a club._

_Well, at least if it's widely renowned and only for the high class types…_Kaiba muttered.

_We're with you all the way, Spencer, _Yugi said.

_Muchas gracias, chicos, _Spencer said happily. _I'm going over right now to tell him I'd like us to come there tonight. I'll meet you guys at the abandoned warehouse at seven. Later, guys…_

The voice faded away.

"Aw, man, it's gonna be so cool goin' inta some place like De King's Haven,_" _Joey said excitedly. "Maybe I can get de autograph of some high-class movie star…or maybe I could get one of deir drinks an sell it online for some huge yen…"

Kaiba snorted. "Wheeler, there's no way you'll be able to get in," he said.

Joey spun around and glared angrily at him. "An why exactly would dat be?" he snapped.

"Wheeler, c'mon-you're practically world-renowned as a prime-time underdog who loses more than he wins. Letting you into his club would bring him a major loss of his celebrity status-not to mention a ton of public humiliation."

Yugi and Tristan held Joey back from beating Kaiba to a pulp. "SHUT UP, RICH BOY!" he yelled. "SO WHAT IF I'M NOT DE GREATEST DUELIST IN DE WORLD?! An besides, maybe it won't matter if dat's a bit of a turnoff-dey might just consider lettin' me in only by judgin' my good looks an charm."

Tristan stared down at him. "Um, sorry, Joe, but if that was the case, then maybe you wouldn't be able to come with us after all."

It took them five minutes to pry Joey off of Tristan's back.


	3. Chapter Two: You Can't Come

Chapter Two: You Can't Come

Long after school, seven of the eight teen heroes were standing in the warehouse, wearing various items of black, white, and dark blue clothing with different kinds of silver jewelry for Yugi and Téa (the two had been a little late since they were helping Yugi's grandfather, as Yuri, dress up in a modern day 'clubbing' outfit which he'd had no clue about).

Joey was sitting on a crate, impatiently tapping his foot on the ground. "C'mon, Spencer, where are ya?" he murmured. "I wanna get ta dat night club already."

"I'm surprised at you, Wheeler," Kaiba said to him. "I didn't think you'd be so eager to be told you're not allowed to go somewhere."

"WOULDJA STOP SAYIN DAT?!" Joey yelled at him. "Man, now I really can't wait for Spencer ta get here an tell us dat we're all goin' dere so dat I can laugh about it RIGHT IN YOUR FACE!"

At that moment, a glowing white portal appeared at the far end of the warehouse. Spencer stepped out of it wearing a white zip-up vest with black trim, black pants, and a rather depressed look on his face.

Joey's eyes lit up right as he saw Spencer. "Spencer, man, nice ta see ya!" Joey cried with delight. "So, how about we get goin' ta dat night club, huh?"

"Yeah…uh…" Spencer avoided his gaze, staring down at the ground and pressing his two index fingers together. "About that…"

"Spencer, what's wrong?" Yugi asked, noticing his rather somber demeanor.

"Erm…" Spencer sighed and looked up. "Joey…you can't come."

The heroes stared at him with wide eyes. Kaiba shook his head and muttered, "I knew it."

Joey, however, was strangely unphased by the comment. He simply rolled his eyes at Spencer and replied, "Yeah, sure, man. Dere's no need ta make Kaiba's ego bigger dan it already is."

"Joey, I'm serious," Spencer murmured. "Reginald said he can't let you into his night club."

Now Joey looked absolutely shell-shocked. "Wha-but-huh-_why_?" he stuttered out.

"Don't kill the messenger, man…" Spencer said. "He said that in order for his night club to retain its reputation, he can only let certain young, attractive, and famous people into the place, and, well…letting an underdog such as yourself in would kind of…tarnish it."

Joey's eyes lit up with green magic and his outlined glowed furiously with it as well. "AN YOU DIDN'T TELL HIM OFF ABOUT IT?!"

"Joey, man, believe me, I would have loved to bash that smug son-of-a-baka in the face for saying something like that about one of my friends, but if we don't catch that guy in the act, then he'll continue taking innocent young women for his own sick and selfish purposes for who knows how long, so…" He looked down at the ground again. "I had no choice but to promise that I wouldn't bring you along. Sorry…"

Joey continued glaring angrily at him for a few moments. Finally, he snapped his fingers and transformed into thousands of green sparks which soared up into the air and through the roof of the warehouse in lightning-fast, enraged motion.

The others stared after him for a few moments. Yugi turned to the others and asked, "Could the rest of you go on to the night club? I'll catch up with you in a little bit; I need to talk with Joey for a moment."

"I'll go with you, man," Tristan said. "I, um, kind of think I need to make up with Joey before he comes after me again for that little comment at school…"

"Yeah, I'll come too, bro," Spencer agreed. "Poor guy needs some cheering up…"

With that, the teen heroes transformed themselves into thousands of showers of sparks which soared up through the roof of the warehouse. While the pink, grey, white, and light blue sparks went off towards the night club, the blue, orange, and gold sparks flew off in the other direction to search for Joey.

* * *

Joey was lying down on his bed, throwing a tennis ball back and forth at the wall before him, glaring angrily at nothing in particular.

Three showers of sparks floated through his ceiling, came down onto the floor, and transformed back into Yugi, Tristan, and Spencer.

"Joey? Are you okay?" Yugi asked gently.

"No," Joey snapped back, throwing the ball at the wall again with so much force that a small dent formed in it.

"Hey, man, c'mon, there's no need to feel so down," Tristan assured him. "Why wouldja wanna go and hang out at some place which snubs you and finds you too 'low class' to even be allowed inside?"

Joey sat straight upwards and yelled out, "DEY TINK DAT I'M LOW CLASS, TOO?!"

"Uh…no…that was just…uh…" Tristan stuttered out.

"I believe what Tristan is trying to say," Spencer said loudly to avoid another fight starting up between the two, "is that you'd probably be miserable if you chose to go there. Why would it be such a big deal if you weren't allowed inside?"

Joey sighed. "Okay, ta tell da truth, it's not really so much dat I can't go inside…it's _why _I can't go inside dat's buggin' me." His voice rose up again. "Man, I'm so sick of bein' seen as notin' but some useless underdog! I wanna get some respect! I want a few fans of my own! And is it too much ta ask dat a few girls fall head-over-heels over me for once?!"

"Uh, trust me, Joey," Yugi said, his thoughts going towards all of the girls who'd publicly declared their love for him and cut off his airway from hugging him tightly, "sometimes it's good to not be the guy all the girls want."

"Well, I wouldn't really know if dat was true, now would I?" Joey sighed. "Look, you guys have a buncha girls dat need savin' from becomin' dat jerk's little servants in de future, so why don't you just go?"

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Yugi asked.

"Yeah, don't worry about me, man," Joey sighed. "I'll be okay."

Reluctantly, the three turned, transformed back into thousands of showers of sparks, and sailed back through the roof in the direction of the night club, leaving Joey to lie on his bed and continue simply bouncing the tennis ball back and forth with a depressed look on his face.

* * *

_"Hmm…strange…I'm supposed to deliver this package to his majesty King Spencer, but my magic sensor says he's apparently not anywhere in this world…perhaps I should look in that other one where his friends live…ah, here we are! His last stop was right at this little apartment in a town called Domino. Well, guess I'd better swing on over there…"_


	4. Chapter Three: Aphrodite's Ring

Chapter Three: Aphrodite's Ring

A little while later, Joey was watching as his pizza slice spun around in the microwave, tapping his bare foot impatiently. "C'mon, already, I'm starvin' here…" he muttered.

Finally, the light in the microwave shut off and a little _ding! _sound was heard. Joey immediately threw the microwave door open, grabbed the steaming hot slice off its plate, and took a huge bite out of it. "Ahh," he breathed out, "much better."

He walked back towards his room, taking another bite out of it-when suddenly he stopped dead with the cheese hanging down from his mouth.

A strange white glow was coming from his bedroom, shining onto the hallway wall brightly.

Joey bolted down to his room and skidded to a stop before the doorway, holding the pizza in one hand and pointing out a green glowing finger with the other.

Standing inside of his room before a glowing white portal was a young man wearing a blue short-sleeved shirt, blue shorts, white socks with blue sneakers, and a blue baseball cap with a soaring white bird on its front. Clutched firmly in his hands was a small brown parcel tied up with string, and hooked onto his brown belt was a small device which looked like a GPS system.

"Excuse me, sir," the young man, stepping forward to a very confused-looking Joey, "but I have a package here which needs to get to King Spencer as soon as possible, and my magic sensor here indicates that this was his last known location in this world."

Joey slowly lowered his hand. "Uhh…sorry, man, but you're a liddle late-King Spencer left here a while ago an now he's out someplace dat's filled wit almost notin' but humans."

"Shoot…" the guy murmured. He held the package out to Joey. "When he returns, would you make sure to give this to him? Just tell him it's the monthly package from Magic and Mystic Industries; he'll understand immediately."

A bit baffled as to why he was being entrusted with magic items when this person didn't even know him, he held out his hands and took the package from the guy.

The guy tipped his hat and said, "Thank you very much, sir, and have a nice day," before he stepped back through the portal and let it close behind him.

Joey eyed the package with suspicion. "What de heck is in dis ting?" he asked himself.

He stepped forward into his room, eying the package with such intensity that he didn't notice an old sock right in his path. The moment he stepped on it, he slipped and, with a yelp, sent his pizza and the package flying into the air.

The pizza fell cheese-side down onto the bedroom floor, becoming yet another part of the old food and dirty clothes mess in Joey's room, while the package landed on its side and spilled open, sending a few bottles of colorful liquids, strange stones with odd symbols, and a red velvet ring box out onto the ground.

Groaning, Joey got up from the ground and muttered, "I gotta clean up dis place sometime…" He turned and looked down at the stuff from the box. "Aw, man…" He got down onto his knees and started putting the magical items back.

The bottles and stones, he could tell, were simply potions and those rune stones which some people used to predict the future, but the ring box was new to him. "What's dis?" he asked as he picked it up.

He snapped it open to discover that embedded in the box was a golden ring with a tiny symbol carved into it that looked like a circle with an upside-down cross sticking out of its bottom. "A ring?" he said. "What kinda magical purpose does dat serve?"

He noticed a folded-up sheet of paper wadded inside the top part of the box. He gingerly pulled it out and unfolded it to read:

_Aphrodite's Ring_

_Have you ever dreamed of being _the _guy or girl that everyone notices at the biggest party of the year? Do you want to experience the attention that all of the major celebrities and models get from their fans? Well, now you can, thanks to this special magical ring of the mighty Aphrodite! Aphrodite (pronounced afro-die-tee) was the Greek goddess of beauty, renowned throughout all of Greece for her exquisite looks, and now you can experience this same renown as well! It's simple: just put on the ring, recite the incantation below and you'll practically look like a _god _(or goddess)!_

Joey's eyes widened with shock. "No way…" he murmured. A plan started forming in his mind. "If I put dis ring on an started it up, den maybe…yeah…dere's no way dey'd deny some god-like teen entry inta dat club…"

He excitedly slipped the ring onto his finger and was about to start chanting when he paused. "Wait…dis belongs ta Spencer…maybe I shouldn't really use dis…" He thought for a few moments. "And den again…I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I just used it ta get inta dat night club and help de odders wit de greater good…de attention an girls fallin' for me would just be an added bonus…" He grinned happily and spoke the incantation:

_Aphrodite, kamno me oraios._

The ring started glowing with a golden light which spread up his arm and all over his body. He shut his eyes and smiled as a warm sensation flooded through him and a shift started occurring all over his body…

* * *

A little bit later, over at The King's Haven, the party was in full swing with various teenagers dancing to the rock band's beat and chatting happily with their friends over bottles of water.

The seven heroes, however, weren't having quite as good a time. Yugi and Téa were sitting at a table in the back while the others stood around them, simply gazing around the room and making sure Reginald wasn't taking an interest in any of the young women there.

Yugi sighed and murmured, "Poor Joey…it's not really the same without him here…"

"Yeah, I mean, where's the fun in being somewhere if you don't have your best buddy with you to make fun of?" Tristan asked.

Spencer stared at him. "That'sss…an interesting sort of friendship…"

"Shame he wasn't allowed to come in…" Yuri said. "It looks like this is a really great place for teenagers…I, um, think…" His confused gaze had fallen onto two teens who were basically grinding the floor.

Yugi laughed. "Don't worry, Grandpa, you'll get the hang of modern teenage culture soon."

* * *

Outside of the door to The King's Haven stood one of Reginald's flunkies, a huge, solid man wearing a grey suit and sunglasses. He was the bouncer for the night who was determining whether or not the excited teenagers standing in the long line for the club could be allowed inside of the place, turning away those who were deemed not hot enough or young enough.

"Excuse me."

The man turned to tell whoever it was to get to the back of the line-and froze, staring at the kid with his mouth wide open. Other teenagers, particularly the female ones, leaned out of the line to get a glimpse of the person standing next to him.

"I'd like ta go inta dis club, if dat's okay witcha."

"Ah…uh…yes, sure…" the bouncer said, stepping to one side almost automatically. The teenager walked past him, opened the door, and entered the club.

"Who was that guy?" one girl in line whispered to her friend behind her.

"I don't know, but he was _hot_!" she replied.

"Oh, man, I totally have to get in there now!" the first girl cried.

* * *

Inside of the club, things were continuing as usual when the door to the place opened once more. Suddenly, almost everything froze-people stopped dancing and turned to gaze in the doorway, 

the band halted abruptly in the middle of a song, and teens that were right about to take sips of water let their bottles simply pour like little waterfalls down onto the floor.

Being in the back, the heroes couldn't really see who it was. "Did some big celebrity come in or something?" Tristan asked.

"Excuse me," a familiar voice said from the doorway. "I'd like to get trough, please. An continue on wit your party-don't let me interrupt."

The crowd of dancers parted to give the person who'd walked in a direct path to the back. Now the heroes could see who it was quite clearly.

Their jaws dropped. "What in the frickin' name of the-" Spencer cried out.

It was Joey-sort of. He certainly didn't look like the Joey they remembered.

His honey-blond hair looked extra shiny and soft, brushed to its typical form with extra care and perfection. His deep, creamy brown eyes gave a wide contrast to the practically shining teeth which he flashed when he opened his mouth. His clothes were very weirdly fashionable, with a close-fitting black shirt that showed off his rippling muscles on his arms and chest, nicely cut black jeans, black sneakers, and a green vest which he'd slung over his shoulder.

"What the heck did he do to himself?!" Yugi whispered to his friends.

"I don't know, but if it was a spell, he'd better teach it to me!" Tristan whispered back.


	5. Chapter Four: Defective

Chapter Four: Defective

"Hey, guys," Joey said as he got to the table.

The sound of metal squeaking made him turn around. A pretty young girl gazing up at him dreamily was pushing a chair towards him. Although after a bit of hesitation the night club had resumed its typical routine, other girls continued staring at him as well, which was highly annoying for the boyfriends they were dancing or chatting with.

"Oh, uh, thank you," Joey said, slipping his vest on and sitting down in the girl's chair.

With a sigh, she promptly fainted onto the ground.

Spencer jumped up, grabbed a water bottle off of one of the waitresses' trays, dabbled a bit of water onto a napkin, and quickly pressed it up against the girl's forehead. He looked up at Joey and cried, "Okay, who are you and what did you do with Joey Wheeler?!"

Joey blinked. "Uh, Spence, it's still me in here," he said.

"Obviously his mentality hasn't changed at all," Kaiba muttered to himself.

"Joey, how did you do all of this?" Yugi asked, still staring in shock at his near-perfect physique.

"Oh, ya know, de 'unique' way," Joey replied, leaning back in his chair and putting his hands behind his head. "De way dat isn't even imaginable ta mere mortals."

"Water?" a couple of voices chimed.

He looked up to see four dreamy-eyed waitresses standing behind him in a little half-circle, holding out their trays closely and trying to push one another away from him.

Not wanting to start a cat fight, Joey reached out with his hands and managed to grab two bottles off each one of the trays at once between his fingers. "Tanks, girls," he smiled at them, flashing his perfect teeth.

They squealed with delight and dashed off, happily giggling amongst themselves.

"Joey, buddy," Tristan said, grinning and wrapping one arm around his friend's neck.

"Sorry, man, but only one of us could be like dis at a time," Joey interrupted.

"HEY, DON'T BE A HOG, MAN!" Tristan cried out angrily.

He was about to tighten his grip when the girl who'd given Joey her chair slowly opened her eyes and glanced up at him.

To everyone's shock, she jumped up lightning-fast, yanked Tristan's arm off of him, and flung him down to the floor. "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH ONE HAIR ON HIS HEAD!" she screamed out at him.

She then turned to Joey and smiled, "I do hope you're okay," before she walked away, still keeping one eye on him.

The others were a bit baffled by this action, but to Joey, it felt absolutely amazing. "Girls are fightin' ta keep me safe from harm," he said with awe. He turned to Yugi and asked, "So why's it so bad ta have dem fallin' all over ya?"

"I can think of a few good reasons," Tristan replied, slightly groaning as he got up from the floor.

"Joey, maybe you should take down whatever spell that is," Yugi said, becoming a bit unnerved by the sight of all the girls continuously staring at him. "I think it might be working a little _too_ well…"

"Ey, c'mon, Yug," Joey said. "Lemme have some fun for a liddle while as de guy every girl wants." He got up from the table and said, "I tink some of de girls would wanna dance wit me, an I don't wanna let dem down, so if you'll excuse me…"

He turned and walked towards the crowd of dancers. A bunch of the girls noticed him coming and immediately started pushing and shoving through the sea of people in order to become the first girl he'd dance with.

As he walked away, Spencer suddenly caught a glimpse of something glittering on his hand. _What's that? _he thought to himself.

Making sure that no humans were looking, he pointed a finger and zapped out a tiny, golden spark towards Joey. The spark soared to his finger, gently tapped whatever was glittering on it, and flew back towards Spencer. With a little glow, the spark became a photograph of a gold ring with a strange symbol on it.

"The sign of Aphrodite…" Spencer murmured. Realization slowly dawned in his eyes.

The other heroes, meanwhile, were watching in shock as young ladies kept pushing and shoving to even get one inch near Joey. "My, that's quite a powerful spell," Bakura commented.

"It's not a spell," Spencer suddenly snapped. He held out the photos to the others. "This is one of the most widely manufactured items in our dimension that people from our world who still prefer to live in this one absolutely _love _using at parties and such. It's Aphrodite's Ring, and it grants the wearer unbelievable beauty and all the attraction to the completely non-magical opposite sex they could want."

He shut his eyes and focused on using his telepathy. _JOEY!_

Joey slightly winced from the scream, but the girls didn't notice. _OW! Geez, man, what's your problem?!_

_WHERE'D YOU GET AN APHRODITE'S RING FROM?!_

_Oh…you saw it? _

_Yes._

_…Sorry, man, but I got it from some guy dat sent you a package which kinda opened when I slipped onta de ground in my room, an when I found out what dis ting does, well…_

_A package? From who?_

_I dunno, Magical Industries or someting like dat. _

A horrified look crossed Spencer's face. _Magic and Mystic Industries? _he said slowly.

_Oh yeah, dat was it._

"Oh no," Spencer breathed out.

"'Oh no' what?" Téa asked, already sensing trouble.

Spencer didn't reply; he jumped up, dashed towards Joey and yanked him back towards their table, saying to the protesting girls, "Sorry, but we have something we need to discuss."

"We do?" Joey said.

"YES WE DO!" Spencer yelled into his face.

Jolted by the yell, Joey quickly sat down in his seat while the girls still watched him intensely.

"Joey, listen to me," Spencer whispered just loudly enough so that the other heroes could hear. "You have to take off that ring and you have to do so _immediately._"

"What?" Joey cried. "Why would I wanna do dat?"

"Joey, there's a reason why Magic and Mystic Industries delivers that stuff to me every month," Spencer replied. "It's because _they want me to destroy it._"

Now Joey looked frightened. "Uhh…why?" he asked.

"All of that stuff is _defective_. Flawed. Ruined. Whatever!" Spencer cried, his voice gradually increasing in volume.

Joey blinked. "What de heck are you talkin' about? Dis ting works just fine!" he cried, pointing to one of his biceps.

"Joey, believe me, there is _something _wrong with that ring, so you've gotta _take it off_!!" Without warning, he grabbed at the ring on Joey's finger and attempted to remove it-

-only to suddenly have an entire tray of water bottles slam directly onto his head, knocking him out cold and sending him down onto the floor with the bottles raining down onto his back.

"SPENCER!" Yugi cried out. He and Téa jumped up from their seats and knelt down behind him, trying to wake him up, while the others stared down at him in shock.

"Hey," a voice said from above them.

The teens looked up to see the waitress who'd slammed Spencer out was glaring down at him fiercely. A strange, golden glow had formed in her eyes. "You tell that jerk that absolutely nobody messes with this being of absolute perfection." She looked over at Joey and smiled. "Because he's totally mine."

"Uhh…" Now even Joey was starting to get a little freaked out.

"Don't be stupid, girl!" One of the female patrons now spoke, her eyes also emitting the gold glow. "He is mine!"

"No, he's mine!" cried another girl with golden eyes.

"Guess again, witch!"

The teens stared in horror as the golden-eyed women started to approach Joey menacingly with dreamy looks on their faces and arms right out in front of them.

"Joey?" Yugi whispered to him.

"Yeah?"

"Run."

"Good idea."

Joey jumped up from his seat, dashed around the crowd of girls and zoomed out the door of the club. The young women charged after him, screaming out proclamations of love while the guys in the place stared after them, utterly baffled.

The Millennium Puzzle glowed and Pharaoh took over for Yugi. "Come now, we have to help Joey!" he cried, dashing after the crowd of girls.

The others ran after him, with Tristan picking up the unconscious Spencer and getting him onto his back before leaving.

* * *

Reginald had been watching Joey and the girls intensely once he'd noticed that all of their attention was focused on him. _Who the heck is that kid?! _he thought to himself. _I've never seen one young man attract so many girls like that! It's almost like he's inhuman!_

Now, after they had left, he snapped his fingers. Almost immediately, two beefy suited guards appeared by his side. "Get me that guy that just ran out of here," he ordered them. "He's got a gift for attracting girls, and I want to use it for everything it's worth!"


	6. Chapter Five: Obsession

Chapter Five: Obsession

Joey dashed down the streets of Domino, extremely grateful that since it was so late, the chances of meeting up with other young women that'd also go crazy for him were highly unlikely.

He looked back and saw the girls were still in full pursuit of him, screaming out with joy and attempting to push one another out of the crowd so that they couldn't get a chance to steal 'their man'.

"Come here, you gorgeous Adonis!" one girl called out.

"No, be mine, you beautiful blonde god!" another one yelled.

_Oh, man, _Joey thought to himself, _now I get why de guys don't like bein' de ones every girl wants-CAUSE DOSE GIRLS ARE NUTS!_

Just as he was about to dash past an alley, an arm suddenly reached out of it and yanked him inside with a yelp.

A few moments later, the girls with gold-glowing eyes skidded to a stop at the end of the alley and gazed down it. Although the alley was a bit long, Joey was not running down it; all there was within in was a couple of silvery trash bins, one of which looked strangely like new, and a homeless man wearing a large fedora and a ratty overcoat pulled all the way up to his eyes searching through the garbage.

"Hey! Did you see someone just run down here?!" one of the girls cried out to the homeless guy.

Without looking up at them, the homeless guy pointed down the alley and replied, "If you're referring to the blonde kid, he just went thataway."

Screaming with delight, the girls dashed past him, down the alley, and around the corner.

Once all of them were gone, the homeless man snapped his fingers and his ragged clothing went away, revealing him to be the Pharaoh. He rapped on the new-looking trash bin and said, "They're gone, Joey."

The can shivered a little and suddenly shifted back into Joey, who'd curled up into a ball on the ground before transforming into a trash can made of actual silver. He stood up as showers of magic sparks flew down to the ground and transformed back into the other heroes, with Spencer still lying unconscious on Tristan's back.

Joey looked over at the Pharaoh and said, "If I ever complain about not gettin' a girl ta notice me again, please slap me."

"I'll remember that for the next time you do so," Tristan grinned.

"Aw, shut up," Joey snapped at him.

Spencer stirred and slowly opened his eyes. "Wha…where are we?" he asked, looking around the dirty, trash-filled alley.

"Somewhere that those magically insane women won't be looking for Joey for quite a while," Tristan replied, letting go so that he could get down to the ground.

Spencer rubbed the part of his head where the tray had hit him and gently used his healing powers to get rid of the oncoming bruise and pain. He glared at Joey in the meantime and said, "Apparently your 'working just fine' ring has gone from giving you 'attraction' to total obsession. Do us all a favor, Joe-next time you get a package filled with magical goods you know nothing about, _please just leave them alone!_"

"Awright, awright, I will!" Joey cried out. "Just lemme get dis stupid ring off already…" He placed his two fingers on the ring and started yanking at it.

But it held fast onto his finger.

Joey paused for only a few moments. He then winced and started yanking harder on the ring, but it just plain refused to budge.

"Wheeler, this really isn't the time to play a stupid prank," Kaiba snapped at him.

"I'm not playin'!" Joey snapped back. "Dis dumb ting won't come off!"

"Wait a minute…" Spencer said. "Joey, if my memory serves correctly, then you had to recite an incantation in order for that ring to work, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, then there's another particular incantation you need to recite in order for its effects to go away." Spencer explained, "You looked for it on the same sheet or whatever you got the first incantation on, right?"

Joey paused. "Uhh…" His eyes averted Spencer's.

"You didn't even check?!" Spencer cried out. "You willingly turned yourself into this man without even knowing how you'd turn yourself back?!"

"HOW DE HECK WAS I SUPPOSED TA KNOW DERE WAS A CONDITION TA IT?!" Joey screamed at him.

A girl's voice was suddenly heard back at the other end of the alley: "OMG! He was really just hiding here!"

The teens looked up and were horrified to see one of Joey's admirers standing at the end of the alleyway, apparently watching to make sure he hadn't hidden from them while they were chasing him.

"GET HIM!"

The crowd of girls came dashing down the alley again, forcing the other heroes to jump out of the way as Joey and his girls once again engaged in a chase.

"GUYS, HELLLLP!" Joey screamed out in horror as he turned the corner and the girls followed suit.

The Pharaoh quickly started giving orders: "Spencer, could you please go back to Joey's apartment and find this paper containing the incantation to remove the ring from his finger?"

"Most definitely," Spencer replied, immediately snapping his fingers and transforming into a shower of gold sparks which soared up and away to Joey's place.

"In the meantime, we must make sure that those women don't destroy Joey in their obsession," Pharaoh told the others. "Quickly, after them!"

The teenagers turned and dashed after Joey and his followers once more. None of them noticed as they dashed past another alleyway two of Reginald's bodyguards come out of the place and start chasing after the rest of the people involved in the game of cat and mouse between the girls and Joey.

* * *

A shower of gold sparks soared down through the roof of Joey's room and transformed back into Spencer. He gazed around the messy room warily and murmured, "Dear gods, how does one find anything in this place?" He sighed. "Oh well…messy or not, I've gotta find that incantation…"

* * *

Joey dashed across a street right as the sign switched over to its 'DON'T WALK' symbol, leaving the girls stranded on the other side. He turned around and, seeing the girls standing in a group across the street, gave a sigh of relief.

However, he was stunned to suddenly see them dash across the intersection and even leap right over the tops of cars passing by in their pursuit for him. After getting over the shock, he quickly turned and started running again, thinking to himself, _C'mon, Spencer, get me dat friggin' incantation already!_

* * *

Spencer was turning over various piles of dirty laundry on the floor of Joey's room. He shuddered a little when he got a sudden whiff of one of his old socks. "Joey, man, don't you ever wash these things?" he groaned, waving his hand in front of his face. "Holy cow…"

The heroes pursued Joey and the girls as he turned a corner and dashed down another empty alley, with his crazed fans right on his tail. "STAY AWAY FROM ME!" Joey screamed out over his shoulder.

"Only when you tell us which one of us you'll have as your girlfriend!" one of the young women in the crowd replied.

Finally, Pharaoh held out his hands and created a dome-shaped force field around the girls. The ones at the front of the crowd slammed into its wall and slid to the ground while the others stared up at the clear, bubble-like thing around them in shock.

"Uh, should we really be doing that around the-you know-non-magicals?" Tristan asked, pointing at the crowd of star-struck women inside the force field.

"I think we should be all right," Pharaoh replied. "If at this moment they're being purely influenced by the ring's power, then once the spell wears off they shouldn't recall a thing which happened while they were under it."

Suddenly, the girls started coming together and shoving at the force field with all of their might, making Joey recoil from them in horror. Stunned, Pharaoh quickly held out his hands and prevented the field from bursting open. He winced and cried out, "There's too many of them-I cannot hold this for eternity!"

Joey looked up at the sky and cried out, "Spencer, man, come back here wit dat incantation already!"

* * *

Finally, after a long and disgusting search underneath old trash, piles of laundry, and messed-up blankets for a bed which were lying on the ground (assumedly from Joey tossing them off during the night), Spencer discovered the ring box lying on top of a pile of clothes, tossed onto it carelessly by Joey during his enthusiasm of transforming into a more handsome form of himself.

He hurriedly opened up the box and pried out the piece of paper stuck in the top. He glanced at the side with the original explanation for how to use the ring, then turned it over, scanned the back, and heaved a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank the gods," he breathed out.

Quickly, he transformed back into a shower of gold sparks and soared out of Joey's room, setting his sensing powers in tune with Joey's magic.

* * *

Joey slowly stepped away from the force field as the girls angrily bashed on it with their fists and even lunged towards him with the entirety of their bodies. "Spencer, where are you, man…" he whispered in terror.

Finally, a shower of gold sparks landed beside Joey and transformed back into Spencer. He shoved the paper with the incantation into his hand and yelled out, "READ!"

Joey quickly glanced down at the sheet and screamed,

_Aphrodite, akyrono sas goitevo!_

The ring glowed with a golden light which once again spread all over Joey's body. He shut his eyes and heaved a sigh of relief as he felt the effects of Aphrodite's magic slowly wear off of him.

Once the glow started to fade and the others saw that Joey had returned to his normal self, Pharaoh held out his hand and quickly made all of them invisible. He then snapped his fingers and the force field went away, sending the girls that were lunging at it flying onto the ground.

The girls looked around in confusion at the alley, the glow in their eyes finally gone. "Hey, where are we?" one of them cried.

"I don't know, but this place is _disgusting_!" another replied, shrinking away in horror from an open trash bin that flies flew around.

"C'mon, girls, let's get out of here," the first said. The other girls nodded their head in agreement and, with the invisible heroes moving aside to let them pass, walked out of the alley and out of sight.

Once gone, the Pharaoh held out his hand again and returned the others to their visible forms. Joey glanced down at his normal self and sighed with relief. As he handed the ring over to Spencer who placed it back into its box, he said, "I never tought I'd say dis, but I am so happy for once ta just be de ignored underdog."

"How nice that you've finally decided to accept it as your eternal position," Kaiba sneered at him.

"OH, SHUT UP!" Joey yelled at him.

The teenagers started walking back down and out of the alley; however, before they reached it, they suddenly heard a voice around the corner say, "Mr. Reginald, sir?"

"Reginald?" Pharaoh whispered in shock.

The teens slowly peered around the corner of the alley and saw two of Reginald's body guards standing on the sidewalk, one of whom was talking on a black cell phone. Spencer snapped his fingers and cast a spell which allowed them to hear the person talking on the other end of the line in their heads.

_Have you found him yet?_

"No, sir, he and the young ladies following him have been running all over the town, and they've become nearly impossible to track down."

_If it's just 'nearly impossible', then you should be able to find him! Now go and get me that young man! I must have him for luring those young ladies to me to work at my club in the other world!_

"Yes, sir."

The man snapped the phone shut and put it into his pocket. The teens quickly ducked down as he and his buddy went running down the sidewalk in pursuit of their target.

"Joey, I believe it was you that those men were referring to," Pharaoh said to him once they'd past.

"Aw, great-first crazy girls an now a crazy evil night club owner? Don't dose people ever give up on deir chases for hot, powerful guys like dat?" Joey groaned.

Pharaoh smiled. "Welcome to my world."

"So now what do we do?" Joey asked.

Spencer grinned with delight. "I know exactly what we can do-if Reginald wants to see that hot guy for his kidnapping purposes, then why don't we give him to him?"

The others turned and stared at him. "DERE'S NO WAY I'M PUTTIN' DAT RING BACK ON!" Joey yelled out.

"No, no, no, that's not what I meant. I've got a different idea in mind-one which will most definitely let us take Reginald down once and for all…"


	7. Chapter Six: An Offer and a Confession

Chapter Six: An Offer and a Confession

Back at The King's Haven, the night club was eerily silent. The rock band had completed their gig, the guys had left not long after their girls had suddenly run out on them after the strangely attractive guy in the green vest, and the waitresses had gone with the obsessed crowd as well, leaving trays on the floor and spilled water bottles all over the place.

Reginald was sitting at a table, his head in one hand and the other drumming on the table impatiently. "What can be taking those two so long?" he cried. "All they need to do is follow the crowd of obsessed young women and that should lead them right to Mr. Attractive!"

"Are you talking about me?"

Reginald looked up and saw someone standing in the shadows of the entrance to the night club, leaving the top half of his body in the dark. He could just barely see the above outline of a rather muscular man wearing black jeans and sneakers.

His eyes lit up with delight. "Oh! You've come back, have you?"

"Yes. Once I finally managed ta get dose girls offa my tail, I saw dose two flunkies of yours and overheard dem talkin' about me. I understand ya wanna offer me a job?"

Reginald stood up. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I do." He pointed at Joey. "You, young man, have a wonderful gift-the gift of attracting young women by the dozen. It's almost magical, what you can do. And I…I have a very strong need for that particular gift."

"Uh, you do?" The young man sounded confused. "What for?"

"Wellll…" Reginald tapped his chin. "I'm not quite sure if I can trust you with this secret of mine…"

"How much does de job pay?"

Reginald mentioned a very large amount of yen with many zeroes after it.

"Ey, if dat's your offer, den you could even commit a crime and I wouldn't breathe a word about it."

Reginald eyed him with some suspicion. "Hmm…all right then, I have one thing to ask you: do you believe in magic and other worlds?"

"Uh…dat's a weird ting ta ask, but dere's nothing dat's proven de don't exist, so…sure, why not?"

"Well, child, believe it or not…" Reginald let his outline glow with red magic. "I have magic, and I come from another world. And in that world, I have another night club which is almost as popular as this one. There's a difference between the two, however: all of the girls who work at my club in the other world are magically-made mute mortals from this world."

"Huh? How'd you get dem ta come over dere? An be made mute, for dat matter."

"Easily," he smiled. "All I had to do was tell them vaguely that I was going to offer them a job, and that all they'd need to do to get it would be to sign a contract. Since they were so excited about getting employment in this place, they assumed, they just signed the contract without even looking at it. Thus, they had their voices removed, were sent over to the other world, and now can do nothing but work for my restaurant without being allowed to even set one foot outside of it." He laughed a nasty little laugh.

"Hold up-how can somebody be a waiter if dey can't even talk?"

"Again, very simple. Just give them voices through usage of recorders with common waiter phrases and stuff. That's all they need to say, and that's all they'll ever be able to say again." He shrugged. "Granted, I guess you could technically call it kidnapping, but hey, if you want to save a few bucks on paying hired hands, then some sacrifices must be made, yes?"

"So, what exactly do ya need me for, den?"

"Isn't it obvious? With your assistance, I could attract more of those girls by the dozen! Heck, I'd attract so many that I could open up a third night club!" He held out his hand towards the young man. "So, what do you say, kid?"

"Mmmm…sorry, but I don't tink I'll be able ta do it."

"WHAT?! Why not?"

The kid stepped out of the shadows-and revealed himself to be Joey Wheeler, wearing zapped-up clothing similar to his attractive form's and with his arms muscularly enhanced, but not quite with the same beauty as before. "'Cause you're gonna be locked up for, oh, de next couple thousand years or so?"

Reginald's eyes widened at once in recognition and horror. He whipped around to go to his office in the back, but standing right behind him was Spencer and Chiefs Eli and Liv of the Kingrah Police.

"Don't even think about running, mister," Spencer told him. "You're surrounded."

A snap of fingers was heard, and the other heroes were revealed to be standing around the club, having snuck inside in their pure magic forms while invisible when Joey had opened the door to the place. Wrapped up in Tristan's elastic arms were Reginald's two flunkies which they'd tracked down and defeated.

Knowing he was outmatched, Reginald snarled and held out his arms towards the chiefs. Liv took a pair of handcuffs from her pocket and snapped them onto his wrists.

"Don't think this is the end," he cried out to King Spencer as he pulled out a custom portal and placed it onto the ground. "I'm a very wealthy, powerful man, your majesty-I'll be out of jail by next week at the longest."

"With a confession like that? I don't think so, bub," Spencer shook his head. He zapped a spark through the hole which created a custom portal leading right to the police department. Liv led Reginald through the portal, followed by Eli who'd grabbed the arms of the flunkies once Tristan had un-wrapped his arms from around them.

Joey shifted his arms back to normal and heaved a sigh of relief. "Okay, at least dat one good ting came outta turnin' inta dat guy, so dere's no real reason ta be mad at me, right?" he grinned at Spencer.

Spencer's response was to fold his arms and give Joey a look.

Joey sighed. "Awright, no more messin' wit magical stuff dat I have no clue about," he muttered.

Spencer smiled and nodded. "Thank you. That's all I ask." He snapped his fingers and his package, now filled once more with the defective potions and stones, appeared before him. He pulled the ring box out of his pocket and placed it on top of the goods; then, with a wave to the others, he turned and walked through the portal to his world, letting it close behind him.

As the teenagers left the night club, Joey commented, "Kinda a shame dat de ring was defective…if it hadn't made dose girls obsessed ta de point of insanity for me, I wouldn't a minded bein' dat guy every night or so."

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "Right, Wheeler-it's not enough to have a double life, you need a triple one."

"Ey, I coulda handled it!" Joey cried.

Pharaoh smiled at him, "Come now, Joey-be happy that you aren't being hounded with frequency by insane fans who idolize you."

Joey sighed. "I am, but even just a _liddle _bit a dat respect would've been nice."

"And with that ring at our disposal, we would've been able to get it easily…" Tristan added, also looking rather gloomy.

Joey looked up and down at him and said, "I dunno, man-not even dat ring would've done wonders for ya."

With that, Tristan and Joey got involved in another fight, their friends attempted to pry them off of one another while Kaiba watched and rolled his eyes, and everything returned to normal…for the time being.


End file.
